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Wood Buffalo Housing announces new CEO, CFO let go

The Siltstone Place complex, built and managed by Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation in the Stone Creek neighbourhood on Friday September 2, 2016.
Cullen Bird/Fort McMurray Today/Postmedia Network

Leadership changes continue at Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation (WBHDC) as it announced the hiring of Henry Hunter as its new president and CEO on Thursday.

Hunter will assume the role of CEO on Feb. 1,, leaving his current position as Keyano College’s vice president of capital project and facilities operations. Acting CEO and former CFO Greg Elsasser has been let go, and the CFO position has been eliminated, WDHDC chair Maggie Farrington told the Today.

“He’s got decades of experience working at top levels of organizations,” Farrington said of Hunter. “We really feel he was a strong candidate [for] where the board would like Wood Buffalo Housing to go next,” she said.

Henry Hunter, new president and CEO at WBHDC. Supplied image/ Keyano College .

The housing non-profit’s mandate is to provide affordable housing and related services to senior citizens and low and middle-income individuals and families living in Wood Buffalo. The municipality is the only shareholder of the WBHDC.

The board would like the non-profit to change its corporate culture to focus more on tenant and stakeholder relations, Farrington said.

Farrington added the board did not have concerns about how WBHDC was currently handling those relationships, but noted in the past WBHDC has been focussed on development.

Hunter has worked in the public sector as executive director of public infrastructure and planning at the RMWB, and as manager of utility development and capital projects at the City of Winnipeg.

“I am excited to be part of a great team working to find affordable housing solutions that will play an important part in the recovery of our community,” Hunter said in a statement.

Elsasser’s departure means current acting director of tenant services Jason King will take over as interim CEO until Feb. 1.

Elsasser has worked as acting CEO since the departure of former CEO Bryan Lutes in late April. After a review of the duties of the CEO, the WBHDC’s board decided to eliminate the CFO position and transfer its responsibilities to the CEO and the director of finance, Farrington said.

“Definitely want to thank Greg for his incredible work that he did for Wood Buffalo Housing, and particularly when he took up the acting president [and] CEO role just before the fire,” Farrington said.

“He had great leadership during the wildfire in May, and subsequently.”